Rogues get a new legendary set in 4.3--perhaps to deal with all the melee balance problems in Firelands! Like the means of acquiring Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest, rogues will obtain this legendary through a series of quests interspersed with looting items from raid encounters. While completing the entire quest series does require a raid, there's a ton of great solo content at the start, such as exciting high-stakes stealth missions.

For background: check out the quest series in Badlands covering Rheastrasza, the ambitious red dragon who acquired a black dragon egg and magically purified it, cleansing it of the Black Dragonflight’s corruption. This questline covers the fate of the purified egg and introduces the enigmatic Black Prince, Wrathion--in a storyline taking the enterprising rogue to Dragon Soul, Karazhan, Ravenholdt Manor, and much more in the process.

In this guide, I've provided a list of all the quests--their objectives, dialogue descriptions, and relevant notes and tips to help you get through each step faster! Maybe you've got a fresh 85 rogue alt and are wondering how far you can get with solo questing, or raid only a semi-regular basis and want to know how long each raiding step will take.

Questing

Stage 1: Jaws of Retribution

This initial stage does not require players to raid--it's a great way for all types of players to experience some unique questing and lore, getting sweet upgrades out of the deal! In this stage, you learn the fate of Rhea's purified egg and ally with Wrathion to purge the Black Dragonflight.

Description: Hello, <name>! You've earned a reputation among the flight as having - shall we say - 'nimble fingers.'

We need someone of your skills for a matter of utmost delicacy. Before I reveal more, we need to know you're the right <man/woman> for the job.

When the course of battle takes you to the Eye of Eternity, I need you to pickpocket Hagara the Stormbinder to retrieve a cryptomancer's decoder ring. Are you up to the task?

Notes:

You will begin the quest series from Proving Your Worth, who is initially stationed at the entrance of Dragon Soul. If you are zoned into a partially-completed raid, he will be located inside Wyrmrest Temple inside Dragon Soul.

To get to Hagara the Stormbinder in a partially-cleared raid, take the portal at the entrance to the top of the Temple. Then, take the portal to your left to zone into the Eye of Eternity.

You only need to pickpocket Hagara the Stormbinder, not defeat her. You simply need to find a raid that has killed the first three bosses on Normal or Heroic difficulty. Keep in mind that Hagara the Stormbinder is preceded by several waves of trash.

Multiple rogues can complete this step per raid. You will have to reset Hagara the Stormbinder between pickpockets by aggroing her and then using Vanish.

Description:Corastrasza, currently stationed at the Vermillion Redoubt in the Twilight Highlands, has intercepted a coded message of grave importance. I'll let her explain the full situation, but we need your expertise to unravel the cipher!

Take your decoder ring to an ethereal thaumaturge in your capital city - he should know how to charge it. Acquire the encoded cipher from Corastrasza and use the ring to decode it for her. Hurry! Time is ticking...

Notes:

You first need to find an Ethereal in a capital city. Thaumaturge Rafir/Thaumaturge Altha near the Transmogrification/Void Storage NPCs. They will require for decoding the ring. There's an option to turn their offer down, but you are no match for the Ethereal.

You will then need to fly to Corastrasza at the Vermillion Redoubt in Twilight Highlands. She will give you the cipher, but it will take 12 hours to fully decode it. The 12 hours for your ring to charge counts as real-life time, not in-game time.

Description: Just beyond this cave lies Ravenholdt Manor. You need to get inside without being seen!

<Mostrasz places an enchantment on you.>

There - now I'll be able to keep an eye on you and communicate as you venture into the compound. Now sneak into that manor, locate the egg, and don't get caught...

Notes:

This is the first of three quests that requires the rogue to use stealth, paying careful attention to hostile patrols. It's not as elaborate as the later two quests, but provides a good introduction on how to creatively path and avoid mobs within a large aggro radius.

Pathal provides a walk-through and useful maps for this section: To Catch A Thief.

After reaching the basement, you'll be rewarded with a cut-scene in which you learn about Wrathion (the hatched dragon from the purified egg), his views on the Black Dragonflight, his alliance with Ravenholdt, and why he wants your help.

Objective: Seek out Zazzo Twinklefingers near the ruins of Gilneas City in Gilneas.

Description: If you wish to join my cause and slaughter the black dragons in hiding, prove yourself by taking down Hiram Creed. He's amassing an army in Gilneas.

We haven't been able to slip past his defenders, but we've got a man on the scene keeping an eye on him. Zazzo Twinklefingers, a very crafty arcane mage, is waiting for us to contact him just outside of the ruins of the Gilnean capital.

Objective: Stealth into the ruins of Gilneas City and slay Lord Hiram Creed within the military district.

Description: The city has been in chaos for days now. Lord Hiram Creed, disguised as a Gilnean, has infected the lot of those dogs with his own draconic blood. Even the Forsaken are having trouble routing him out.

Only a surgical assassination can end this!

The bridge behind me is relatively unguarded. Slip in through merchant's square and head south - you'll find Creed in the middle of the military district.

I'll keep an eye on you and pull you out if there's any trouble.

...There WILL be trouble!

Notes:

This quest requires you to stealth through Gilneas, avoiding guards, dogs, and Worgen scouts that have enhanced stealth detection. The second part of this quest requres you to slay a member of the Black Dragonflight disguised as a Gilnean, Lord Hiram Creed.

Sap and Distract are useful. Familiarizing yourself with the terrain of Gilneas is also helpful; one can swim in the moat, but arriving on land will break stealth.

If a hostile mob spots you, Vanish will not work. Zazzo Twinklefingers will port you outside of the city as soon as you are spotted.

Pathal provides three routes to reach Hiram, as well as maps and links to videos. Many parts of Gilneas are buggy with stealth, so read up on his alternate routes and see which path works best for your playstyle.

Hiram is an unconventional boss--many forms of rogue utility actually work on him! He has two phases--Phase 1 has several abilities that must be interrupted, and Phase 2 begins at 75%, with the addition of another ability.Phase 1 Abilities:Consuming Darkness: Hurls a ball of dark energy, inflicting shadow damage and creating a zone of consuming darkness on the ground. Cannot be kicked, but can be stunned while casting.

Blackhowl's Will: Deals 18500 to 21500 Shadow damage and drains all energy. Very important to be interrupt--and Kick works.

Blackhowl's Rage: You have hid from Lord Hiram Creed in battle, sending him into a rage, increasing all damage dealt by 100% for 10 sec. This ability pops up if you use Smoke Bomb range--try not to use it.

For the duration of the fight, you will need to move Creed out of the void zones spawned by Consuming Darkness, so try to stun as many of these casts as you can.As this is a 1v1 encounter and you are "tanking" the boss, Combat is the favored spec. Core abilities of Assassination and Subtlety won't be of use since they have positioning requirements, like Backstab.Combat is also a useful spec because of survivability talents: Elusiveness, , . If you need extra survivability, try Glyph of Evasion, Glyph of Cloak of Shadows, or Fleet Footed.

Description: The daggers I have given you are lifeless shells. They can do great things, once they are given a means to contain the power I have in mind.

I need for you to acquire Shadowy Gems for me. The facets of these unusual stones are like windows into the infinite. They are often used by minions of the Twilight's Hammer to control the most powerful of elementals.

A great battle is raging around Wyrmrest temple. Collect Elementium Gem Clusters from Deathwing's minions and bring the gems to me.

Notes:

This quest can be completed in Normal or Heroic raids. Heroic bosses drop the same amount of clusters/gems as normal-mode bosses. 25-player bosses usually drop 2 clusters, 10-player bosses drop 1 cluster.

The first part requires players to stealth into the Master's Cellar, using Sap and Distract as need be.

For the second part, the rogue will need to defeat Nalice, a 3-phase encounter. Rogues will need to use abilities often ignored against bosses to defeat Nalice--remember, you can respec to make this fight easier.Phase 1/3 Abilities:Arcane Infused Armor. Remove with .

Phase 2 Abilities:Arcane Shield. Prevents the player from damaging Nalice, lasts all of phase 2. You will be ported to one side the room and must Sprint over to two arcane pillars and disable them within 20 seconds, or you will die.

Arcane Power. Disabling one arcane control grants you a stack of this buff. It lasts 30 seconds and stacks.

Nalice alternates between Phase 1 and Phase 2 every 33%. At 33%, she goes into phase 3. This phase is essentially the same as Phase 1, with the addition of Blazing Shadows. Simply move out of it--Nalice will keep following you.

Description: Do you understand why I have you assassinate the dragons, yet spare the mortals? It isn't their fault. They must seek out their own destiny, free from the meddling of my kind.

We are nearing the end of our mission, and it is time for you to seek out your own destiny as well. I can continue to augment your weapons, but collecting shadowy gems won't be enough. My work will require entire clusters. Gather them from my father's minions...

Notes:

Elementium Gem Cluster is the same item required for Cluster Clutch (but if you are on Sharpening Your Fangs, you will be unable to open the cluster). If there are multiple rogues in the raid on different quest steps, either player (but not both) can loot the cluster for their quest step.

10-player bosses drop one cluster each, while 25-player bosses often drop two. Therefore, if you are lucky in a 25-player raid with cluster drops, it will take 4 full clears to finish this step. Rogues in 10-man groups will require 8 full clears.

Items

Fangs of the Father: Legendary Proc

Shadows of the Destroyer: Increases your Agility by 17, stacking up to 50 times. Once you have acquired 30 stacks of Shadows of the Destoyer, each stack gained grants an increasing chance to trigger Fury of the Destroyer and cancel all stacks of Shadows of the Destroyer. Fury of the Destroyer immediately grants 5 combo points and causes your finishing moves to grant 5 combo points. Lasts 6 sec.

Legendary Wings: No further information on it yet, but probably related to the cosmetic effect of unfurling wings.

We've known for a while that the weapon will have two earlier stages like the previous legendary did, but now there's some more information on them. Both of them also have procs:

Looks like Blizzard is having a lot of fun with weapon design and doing what players have wanted for a while--cool, unique procs. Some of them are now showing up in this PTR patch: Slowing the Sands and Summon Tentacle of the Old Ones, for example.

Death Knight Tier 13 & Chromatic Mount

We were trying to hold off on these because we knew Blizzard has an awesome official preview coming up, but since they were leaked, we'll share as well. The mount is truly amazing, though, and will likely be tied to Dragon Soul in some form (a lot of the achievements/spells are named "Chromatic aspects" and such)--I love the direction they went with it, it reminds me of Mists of Pandaria!

It's been a busy week on the PTR for myself and Ashelia. Every day, we find dozens of new things to write about, turning our observations into epicly-long posts. Since there are so many new things, I've provided a roundup of our 4.3 PTR coverage so far--with all the information, perhaps you missed reading something the first time around!

In our very first overview to 4.3, we went through the initial 1600 datamined items to make sense of it all. Among other things, we found numerous new mounts and pets, items that hinted at changes to holidays like Helm of the Fire Festival, new profession recipes, and many items related to the revamped Darkmoon Faire. We also listed numerous 3d models of NPCs, models, and weapons--as well as making a video of some of the new mount animations. Finally, we listed some of the radical class changes in 4.3, placing them next to Ghostcrawler's quotes on balance for an explanation.

In this dungeon-themed preview, we've got extensive coverage of End Time, one of the new 5 mans--a video highlighting all of the bosses, numerous screenshots of every encounter, the Dungeon Journal entries, and loot drops. We've also provided modelviewer previews of all the matching gear from 5-mans, as well as screenshots of the Transmogrification and Void Storage UI. Also, we've organized the Dungeon Journal entries for Dragon Soul, Well of Eternity, and Hour of Twilight, even though they're not available on the PTR yet.

In this preview, we organized all the new profession recipes into tables--including all the epic gem cuts--and tried to list their source/cost when applicable. We also found a bunch of fun miscellaneous things--some spell effects were changed for staple abilities, Winter Veil pets now hearth and have new sassy dialogue, sell prices of some epics have been drastically changed. The Worgen mount vendor is up, so Alliance players can finally get their two extra mounts--and most importantly, players can make Stardust, so we've got numerous glittery screenshots of that. It's an image-intensive post, but sometimes a picture really does say a thousand words.

This preview covered specific quests in 4.3--Darkmoon Faire and the new Rogue legendary. The datamined quest chains aren't complete by any means, but they provide an initial glimpse into the atmosphere behind these 4.3 additions. The Faire seems like it will be a quirky and light-hearted zone, while the quest for Fangs of the Father seems like it will truly be unique, incorporating core abilities and lore of the Rogue class.

Some of the new PvP sets are simply gorgeous--like the Paladin set with the asymmetrical helm. Others are a bit strange, like the skimpy Rogue top. Regardless, we've provided modelviewer previews of every datamined PvP recolor.

We have two exciting previews for you today and they both focus on the same content: quests in 4.3. For the first part, we've organized the Darkmoon Faire quests into tables, so you can see what kind of dailies and others you'll be doing during the festivities. We've also included their achievement, so you can see how they factor into achievements.

The second half is the rogue legendary preview--showing the initial quests you'll do. These are awesome and very much based on the class, but you'll have to jump down below to see what Perculia, our resident rogue, thinks! I just play a paladin, after all.

Rogue Legendary Quests

A few quests for the Fangs of the Father, the Tier 13 Rogue-only Legendary, were datamined on the PTR. In their official preview, Blizzard stated that they wanted this questline to feel like it was "from the shadows," utilizing signature rogue abilities while creating an air of stealth and trickery. In these four early quests, rogues are asked to pickpocket Cryptomancer's Decoder Ring and then travel to Ravenholdt Manor, the headquarters for a mysterious rogue-only faction. Blizzard has mentioned that they've always wanted to do more with this faction since Classic, so here's their chance to really develop it!

Even from this brief preview, it's clear that Blizzard has tried to integrate core aspects of the Rogue class into this legendary quest series, and we look forward to what they'll include in future steps.

DescriptionCorastrasza, currently stationed at the Vermillion Redoubt in the Twilight Highlands, has intercepted a coded message of grave importance. I'll let her explain the full situation, but we need your expertise to unravel the cipher!

Take your decoder ring to an ethereal thurmaturge in your capital city - he should know how to charge it. Acquire the encoded cipher from Corastrasza and use the ring to decode it for her. Hurry! Time is ticking...